News Roundup 29 September 2021
Sep 29, 2021 • 3 min Read
12,805 new coronavirus infections push Philippines caseload to 2.54M | PHILSTAR.COM – Local health authorities on Wednesday reported 12,805 more COVID-19 infections, bringing the national caseload to 2,535,732. Today’s numbers saw active cases up by 200 from the 132,139 reported on September 28. The Department of Health said one laboratory did not submit screening results.
- Active cases: 132,339 or 5.2% of the total
- Recoveries: 12,236, pushing total to 2,365,229
- Deaths: 186, bringing total to 38,164
Philippines ranks last in COVID-19 resilience report | PHILSTAR.COM – The Philippines fell to last place in a study that measures the resilience and response of countries to the COVID-19 pandemic. With a score of 40.2, the Philippines ranked last among 53 countries included in Bloomberg’s Covid Resilience Ranking, which shows “where the virus is being handled the most effectively with the least social and economic upheaval.” This was one place down from its 52nd ranking in the previous report. “The Philippines faces a perfect storm in that it’s grappling with the more ferocious Delta variant at the same time as it works with an inadequate testing regime and sees disruptions to its economy and people’s livelihoods as the pandemic continues to rage,” Bloomberg said in a piece explaining the country’s drop to the 53rd place. The country scored low on all four of Bloomberg’s metrics related to opening: vaccination coverage rate, lockdown severity, flight capacity, and vaccinated travel routes. The Philippines also had the second worst positivity test rate in the list at 27%.
1Sambayan poll: Robredo, Trillanes top picks for president, VP | INQUIRER.NET – Vice President Leni Robredo emerged as the top choice of opposition coalition 1Sambayan to be its standard-bearer in 2022, while former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV was the top pick for vice president. This was based on an internal survey conducted by the coalition from September 12 to 25, multiple sources told INQUIRER.net Wednesday night. Without confirming the survey, 1Sambayan Convenor Etta Rosales stressed that the poll was “very tentative” and that the coalition has yet to build a consensus. “This is an internal survey that is not intended for the media yet…” Rosales said over the phone. “As I said that’s very tentative kasi there’s a process that has to be undertaken and so the process is not yet finished because that’s just the internal survey that’s initially discussed in a general assembly. Napaka tentative,” she added. The survey listed five names for president: Robredo, Trillanes, Manila City Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso, Senators Manny Pacquiao, and Panfilo Lacson. Robredo got the highest votes with 44,000, followed by Moreno with 40, 275, Trillanes with 38, 197, Pacquiao with 9, 211, and Lacson with 4,049. The results of the survey were presented during the coalition’s general assembly on Tuesday, according to one of the Inquirer sources. Another source confirmed Robredo topping the list though he said he did not see the actual votes.
Robredo has ‘all out’ support from opposition if she runs for president—Trillanes | Manila Bulletin – Despite seemingly being impatient with Vice President Leni Robredo’s decision to run for president or not, former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV believes she’s still the best person for the job and promises to go “all out for her.” “We believe she has the best chance of winning among the members of the opposition. We are going all out for her in case she decides to run,” he said in a recent interview on ANC. “Once she decides to run for president is (when) we hit the ground running. We focus on winning while I think it is given now if she becomes president, she would do definitely much better than Mr. Duterte and the others,” the chair of the Magdalo Party added. Trillanes said that “everything will be more systematic” when the vice president decides to join the race.
